Do two half-stories make a solid one ? Well, tough script work ahead...

Rating: 6/10 (10 February 2009)

As funny as it may sound, this movie reminded me the case of another infamous film trying to combine two half-stories to make them match into a solid one and falls short : "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome".
First, Max finds problems in a post-apocalyptic city in the desert, then gets cast away and discovers a children colony living in caves. Then, the film has to move on the best it can and the script wreckage begins.
Same with "28 days later" : The first part is a decent usual 'horror/survival/road trip/bound of trust between characters' drama that works pretty well with suspense, fear and tension, plus a touching background of sadness and even despair
Then the second part begins with some military unit that makes us all think about "Lord of the Flies" - and the audience might feel a bit cheated on at that point, for that infamous "Solution for Infection" message is in fact a let down from the very first minutes the survivors join the group.
And for the third act, the script writer has to prove his brain muscles out to make the two half-stories fit  and fail he does.
In order to make the story move on, illogical twists keep going : the hard-boiled girl who once killed her only friend with a machete blade because he got infected now becomes a poor wining-crying doll; the young lady who needed care and protection simply vanishes from all pieces of dialog and the skinny-and-shy-and-uncompetitive bicycle courier turns out to become a stealth commando expert who can defeat 5 or 6 trained military men loaded with weapons.
Not to mention an eerie upbeat happy ending where many viewers thought there would be a 'Planet of the Apes'-like strong and unforgettable conclusion.
Good directing, good actors, nice cinematography and a touch of sadness... but definitely too many scripts holes. I'll go for 6 out of 10.